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Sports content continues to dominate linear TV, accounting for over 95% of the most-watched programs in 2023 in the US. The strength of live sports programming is growing as traditional linear TV networks spar against streaming services for valuable media rights. At the same time, local rights are shifting from regional sports networks to local broadcast stations, and new sports-centric streaming services have emerged to target audiences outside of the traditional pay-tv ecosystem. Consumers now have a myriad of platforms to consume content amidst the changing landscape. Please join S&P Global’s Mike Reynolds, Justin Nielson and Scott Robson in a discussion on: The increasing cost of global sports rights The evolving business model for local sports rights The state of the regional sports networks The growth of sports direct-to-consumer services

From Taylor Swift's highly publicized romance to the starstudded attendees, I couldn't help but question if this year's Super Bowl was still about football.🤔 At face value, we can see that the media plays a huge role in marketability. The more consolidated the media sector gets, the more promotional time viewers can expect the network with the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl to reserve for the many corporate siblings their parent company deems priority to showcase. With media companies taking center stage and competing for our attention, the combination of linear and streaming proved to be very powerful in terms of maximizing reach, interactivity, and personalization for viewers. So yeah, in a way, the Super Bowl has become more than just a football game. However, as the most-watched program to date, averaging 123.4 million viewers across all platforms, clearly they're doing something right! #SuperBowl #Media #Streaming

Appreciated Shripal Shah ´s insights here " This collaboration is more than just a new streaming service; it's a strategic evolution in the sports media ecosystem. It reflects a deep understanding of market demands and a visionary approach to meeting them. By combining their strengths, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are not just responding to the trend of cord-cutting; they are setting the stage for the future of sports broadcasting."

There is a Dilbert cartoon that shows, in the first panel, a management consultant advising to decentralize the organization to maximize autonomy and speed, and then in the second panel, two years later, advising to centralize the organization to take advantage of efficiency and economies of scale. That is a caricature of business experts in general, of course, centralizing what is decentralized and then decentralizing what is centralized, but when I first saw the news of ESPN, Fox and WBD launching a joint sports streaming service in late 2024 that was the first thing I thought of. This is a huge shake up of the industry, consolidation was bound to happen, and the era of proliferation of streaming services is probably dwelling. As consumers, the benefit is obvious, no more need for 5 different subscriptions to be able to watch the different sports you want. For rights holders, it's most likely not great news. The scenario of decreasing broadcast media rights is very real, and would have a real impact on most of them. It only increases the need to better control the direct conversation with their fans, via owned channels but mainly social media where all the attention continues to be.

🚀 Major Leap in Sports Streaming: The Game Changer is Here! 🚀 In a groundbreaking move, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced their collaboration to launch a joint sports streaming platform this fall. This marks a pivotal moment for the industry, offering consumers direct access to a vast array of marquee live sports. Here’s why this is a game-changer: Unprecedented Collaboration: The unity of such media titans underlines a strategic shift towards catering to the evolving consumer demand for sports content. Tailored for Sports Fans: This platform promises a 'skinnier bundle' of linear networks, focusing on quality rather than quantity, delivering exactly what sports enthusiasts crave. Direct Subscription Model: By allowing direct subscriptions through a new app and potential bundling with Disney+, Hulu, and Max, this initiative is set to redefine how we access sports content. A Potential Pricing Paradigm: With a speculated starting point around $45-$50 per month, the pricing strategy seems aimed at making premium sports content more accessible, albeit at a value reflecting its quality and exclusivity. This venture not only signifies a significant moment for Disney and ESPN but heralds a new era for sports broadcasting. It's a bold step forward, addressing the digital transformation of the media landscape and the shifting patterns of content consumption. My Perspective: This collaboration is more than just a new streaming service; it's a strategic evolution in the sports media ecosystem. It reflects a deep understanding of market demands and a visionary approach to meeting them. By combining their strengths, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are not just responding to the trend of cord-cutting; they are setting the stage for the future of sports broadcasting. As we anticipate further details, it’s clear that this initiative could potentially reshape the sports media landscape, making premium sports content more accessible and enhancing the viewer experience in unprecedented ways. #SportsStreaming #MediaInnovation #DigitalTransformation #StrategicCollaboration #FutureOfSportsBroadcasting

📱 It’s a #vertical world. Don’t just live in it, join it. "80% of the consumption of our content is consumed vertical.” - Michael Bucklin, SVP FOX Sports Digital FOX Sports Digital is building the blueprint to success in vertical production. If you want to lean in on vertical like them, we have a resource to get you started. The Tagboard Production Playbook: Live Streaming in a Vertical World https://lnkd.in/gN5t9pRd

Here's what I told Campaign about the sports streaming joint venture: Pooling together allows the TV companies to split the burden of expensive sports rights....The TV networks would also like to abandon cable providers so they could control distribution themselves. There’s less worry about the impact of a carriage dispute when you control more of your own distribution....Managing growing the bundle while not cannibalizing their own subscriptions and ad revenues will be the toughest challenge and it isn’t clear they will be able to accomplish it...In the case of ESPN, it’s very unclear why anyone would pay for a standalone ESPN app if they get ESPN’s best games as part of a bundle that saves them money compared to subscribing to each service individually.

CTV Weekly Insights: sports viewership and advertising are continuing their metamorphosis. Amazon and YouTube are bidding on National Basketball Association (NBA) streaming rights, moving more games away from linear TV. If linear TV rights are expected to be more than $1.2billion per year, what is the value of having multiple broadcasts to multiple audiences across multiple devices for the same game? #CTV #livesports (#DonteDiVincenzo) https://lnkd.in/eG8mJ--5

The strategic alliance between ESPN, Fox Corporation, and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch a sports streaming platform announced this week has the potential to shift the way sports fans watch their favorite games, by creating a one-stop-shop for live sporting events and original programming - all available via a new app (name and price TBD).    Through consolidation of their content libraries and sports programming under one streaming umbrella, HBO Max, Hulu, and Disney Streaming+ subscribers will gain access to the service as part of a ‘bundle.’ It offers a “skinnier” alternative to the bloated cable bundles - an offering specifically tailored for sports fans. This not only further accelerates the decline of the traditional cable subscription, it also represents another big step towards the idea of ‘Cable 2.0’ - the recreation of the original cable model, now on digital. Additionally, this presents a unique and rare opportunity for these companies to do something different on a technological level, perhaps resulting in greater innovations in streaming quality and personalized content recommendations, enhancing the overall user experience. This deal will lead to a significant boost in subscriptions and revenue for the companies, as consumers will find the bundled offering more valuable than subscribing to each provider’s individual services. It's noteworthy that this announcement aligns closely with Disney's first quarter earnings release. Despite exceeding expectations, the earnings reflect the impact of the accelerated shift away from traditional cable, underscoring the evolving dynamics of media consumption. Disney has been struggling to find ways to pivot from legacy media and find new strategies to boost subscriptions.     What do you think? Is this the final straw for consumers to move completely to streaming to access live sports? Is this the final nail in the coffin for cable? Sports was one of the last remaining reasons for consumers to keep paying the cable bill.   #LITrendingTopics #SportsStreaming #Cable #CordCutting     https://lnkd.in/gQ6DDNY3  

A sports super streamer? Media giants are joining forces in an attempt at starting a sports streaming revolution. Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney are teaming up to launch a streaming service, uniting ESPN, TNT, and Fox Sports under one digital roof. The intent is to shake up the TV sports landscape by offering a massive library of content through a single, convenient app. The move is an interesting one because it comes as the price of sports rights is dramatically increasing. More importantly, it's really about eyes on the new prize in the streaming business - that's regaining lost revenue. For the main players, they're each trying to recapture the substantial affiliate fees they've lost due to cord-cutting. By uniting their sports content under a single streaming platform, they hope to entice viewers who have migrated to online entertainment, effectively reversing the declining subscriber trend. And if we look at this even more broadly, the joint venture represents a strategic response from traditional media giants scrambling to retain their grip on live sports, the holy grail of TV content that still draws consistent audiences in an era of cord-cutting and streaming dominance. By teaming up, they hope to counter the growing migration of sports rights to streaming platforms. Whether the strategy scores a touchdown remains to be seen, but the concentration of top sports under one roof would be significant https://lnkd.in/gziRmQbG #streaming #sports #foxsports #warnerbrosdiscovery #disney #media #subscription